A motor vehicle is mounted with a large number of actuators formed by a motor, a solenoid, and the like as electric equipment, and a control system for decentralized controlling the electric equipment independently by means of data communication has already been developed. In this system, a wiring harness as shown in FIG. 13 is used.
This wiring harness 10 is constructed by installing many connectors 14 on a combination wire 12, in which a plurality of electric insulated wires are collected, at desired intervals in the lengthwise direction, and is called a so-called bus wiring wire harness. Each of the connectors 14 in this wiring harness 10 is inserted in and connected to a connector 18 (equipment-side connector) on the electric equipment 16 side mounted at portions of a vehicle.
The connector 14 on the wiring harness 10 side incorporates a circuit board that identifies, among signals being transmitted through a combination wire 12, a signal (address) to the electric equipment to which the connector 14 is connected to carry out the control of the electric equipment (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-172072). The connector of this type is also called a smart connector.
In recent years, as to the connector of this type, the incorporating of a communication control IC (integrated circuit) in place of the circuit board has been studied. However, since the communication control IC and other electronic parts are relatively expensive, if a trouble is found after the communication control IC has been incorporated, the expensive communication control IC may become wasteful. This decreases the yield of assembling process, resulting in an increase in cost.